Chaplainmike

Why I won’t be going to church Sunday

Last week, our pastor announced that we would be having a patriotic service on the Sunday of July 4th weekend. I won’t be there. Let me make something perfectly clear. I love my country, the United States of America. I have no trouble displaying the flag on appropriate occasions (though my wife, with her MennoniteContinue reading “Why I won’t be going to church Sunday”

Saturday Ramblings, July 5, 2014, The Tim Howard Edition

Welcome to the Tim Howard edition of the Ramblings, fellow imonkers. Yes, team USA lost to Belgium on Tuesday, but goal-keeper Tim Howard made 16 saves, the most since they began keeping track (in 1966). 20 years ago he would have had a few nice newspaper clippings to but on his bulletin board. ThisContinue reading “Saturday Ramblings, July 5, 2014, The Tim Howard Edition”

Religious Switching and Metaphor

Five years ago I created and published the above graph at Internet Monk. It was based on a very large survey by the Pew Forum that showed how people had switched from their childhood faith group to their current faith group. If you have trouble understanding the graph, you may want to read the originalContinue reading “Religious Switching and Metaphor”

Daniel Grothe: The Spiritual Discipline of Scribbling

The Spiritual Discipline of Scribbling by Daniel Grothe A few years ago, I began preaching weekly—an invigorating, and simultaneously daunting and demanding, task. Previously, I had the good fortune of being an occasional preacher, filling in for people who were on vacation or who turned up sick. As a fill-in, very often you get toContinue reading “Daniel Grothe: The Spiritual Discipline of Scribbling”

The Great Methodological Heresy

Let me say it at the start: I don’t give a rat’s tail about the “Hobby Lobby” case that the Supreme Court decided the other day. I don’t buy the Chicken Little mania of the progressives who think the sky of freedom and protection for women is falling. Nor do I buy the triumphalistic crowingContinue reading “The Great Methodological Heresy”

IM Book Review: An Agnostic Apocalypse

What would happen in the world, in the church, in our lives, if an event like the Rapture took place, but the event was completely enigmatic? What if hundreds of millions of people around the globe suddenly disappeared, but there was no rhyme or reason as to who was “taken” and who was “left behind”?Continue reading “IM Book Review: An Agnostic Apocalypse”

Another Look: Worship as a Meal Gathering

The following was part of a 2011 post, The Order of Christian Worship. It has been edited and updated. * * * The liturgy, the historic worship order in the Western Church, makes sense to me as a pattern for meeting with God and focusing my attention on Christ and the Gospel. It seems toContinue reading “Another Look: Worship as a Meal Gathering”

The Evangelical Liturgy

This post was going to be a followup to Friday’s post – , but then I got unexpectedly called into work for an extended period of time. I do want to continue on this theme, but with the time I had left I could not do it justice. I will be following up with ChaplainContinue reading “The Evangelical Liturgy”

Learning to Walk in the Liturgy

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” ― Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics * * * On Friday in the comments to Mike Bell’s post, Danielle wrote: I would love to see IM discuss how to make liturgy more accessible to newcomers. I would also loveContinue reading “Learning to Walk in the Liturgy”

Saturday Ramblings, June 28, 2014

Welcome to the weekend, fellow imonkers. I’m always surprised by which Rambling items generate the most discussion. Last week it was the Patent Court throwing out the trademark of the Washington Redskins. Some commentators wondered if Cleveland’s Chief Wahoo was next on the chopping block, and that may indeed be the case. “It’s been offensive since dayContinue reading “Saturday Ramblings, June 28, 2014”